{"id":4840,"date":"2013-11-05T01:10:53","date_gmt":"2013-11-05T08:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/?p=4840"},"modified":"2015-01-21T23:31:19","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T06:31:19","slug":"mitchum-loses-race-to-capps-campaign-refuses-to-raise-the-raymond-morua-dui-manslaughter-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=4840","title":{"rendered":"Chris Mitchum loses race to Lois Capps. Campaign refused to raise Morua-DUI-manslaughter issue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Chris%20Mitchum%20loses%20race%20to%20Lois%20Capps.%20Campaign%20refused%20to%20raise%20Morua-DUI-manslaughter%20issue\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p><strong>News &amp; Analysis By Peter Lance\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0November 5th, 2014.<\/strong>\u00a0According the vote count from\u00a0<a title=\"CA Sec of State\" href=\"http:\/\/vote.sos.ca.gov\/returns\/us-rep\/district\/24\/\">The California Secretary of State<\/a>\u00a0with 100% of precincts reporting, Rep. <strong>Lois Capp<\/strong>s (D-CA) defeated Republican challenger <strong>Chris Mitchum<\/strong>\u00a0by a margin of 51.6% to his 48.4% in the heavily fought race for the 24th congressional district. The <a title=\"San Luis Obispo Tribune\" href=\"http:\/\/www.sanluisobispo.com\/2014\/11\/04\/3332382\/24th-congressional-district-election.html\">San Luis Obispo Tribune<\/a> called the race for Mrs. Capps just before midnight.<\/p>\n<p>Mitchum who was neck and neck with Mrs.\u00a0Capps<strong> <\/strong>going into the final days of the campaign, never played his trump card and raised a key issue that went to Mrs. Capps&#8217; integrity: her failure to comment on the scandal in which her District Director <strong>Mollie Culver<\/strong> <a title=\"VA forms\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/VA_Forms_Raymond_Morua_12_9_13.pdf\">forged V.A. forms<\/a> in the days immediately following District Rep.<strong> Raymond Morua&#8217;s<\/strong> DUI hit-an-run crash December 3rd, 2013 which took the life of 27 year-old UCSB graduate Mallory Rae Dies.<\/p>\n<p>That apparent effort at damage control, first reported on this website and in <strong><a title=\"News Press open link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newspress.com\/morua-capps\/\">The Santa Barbara News-Press<\/a> <\/strong>in April had prompted <a title=\"Indy\" href=\"http:\/\/www.independent.com\/news\/2014\/jun\/11\/department-justice-investigating-capps-rep\/\">an investigation by the Department of Justice and the FBI<\/a> in June, but the short-lived probe never gained traction after former Central District U.S. Attorney <strong>Andr\u00e9 J. Birotte,<\/strong> who had referred the News-Press series to The Public Integrity Section of Justice in Washington, was appointed by <strong>President Obama<\/strong> to a federal judgeship. Mr. Birotte was later confirmed by the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mitchumforcongress.com\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-4841\" title=\"Mutchum For Congress.com as of 11.4.1`4 11pp p.m\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mutchum-For-Congress.com-as-of-11.4.14-11pp-p.m-242x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"242\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mutchum-For-Congress.com-as-of-11.4.14-11pp-p.m-242x300.png 242w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mutchum-For-Congress.com-as-of-11.4.14-11pp-p.m-828x1024.png 828w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mutchum-For-Congress.com-as-of-11.4.14-11pp-p.m-800x988.png 800w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Mutchum-For-Congress.com-as-of-11.4.14-11pp-p.m.png 977w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 242px) 100vw, 242px\" \/><\/a>Instead, right up to election day\u00a0<a title=\"mitchum's website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mitchumforcongress.com\">Mitchum&#8217;s website<\/a> focused only on the alleged deceptive ad the Capps campaign ran, with Mrs. Capps approval in which they cut one of the GOP challenger&#8217;s lines in a commercial that made it look like he wasn&#8217;t interested in representing the district if he went to D.C. See coverage from <strong><a title=\"FoxNews.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/11\/03\/son-actor-robert-mitchum-blasts-dem-for-deceptive-ad-in-congressional-race\/\">FoxNews.com<\/a><\/strong>, \u00a0<strong><a title=\"UK Mail\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-2819893\/Robert-Mitchum-s-Congressional-candidate-son-calls-opponent-s-campaign-ads-deceptive-narrow-race-heads-finish.html\">The U.K. Mail<\/a> <\/strong>and <strong><a title=\"CalCoast Deceptive ad\" href=\"http:\/\/calcoastnews.com\/2014\/11\/election-day-races-watch\/\">CalCoastNews.com<\/a>,<\/strong> which considered the Capps-Morua issue so important that they featured it in a story run just hours before the polls closed November 4th.<\/p>\n<p>In her piece headlined &#8220;Election Day: The Races to Watch,&#8221; editor Karen Velie, reported:<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;Recent polls show Rep. Lois Capps in a close race with her Republican challenger Chris Mitchum. Capps has easily held the seat for 16 years. However, because of redistricting, Capps\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\">alleged coverup of a fatal DUI<\/a>\u00a0and her close ties to Gibson and Hill, Capps\u2019 Congressional seat is no longer a sure-fire win.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That paragraph contained a hot link to the<a title=\"Death On\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\">\u00a0five-part series<\/a>. Similarly, FoxNews.com&#8217;s story on the deceptive ad by Alana Wise contained a link to <a title=\"Fox News on FBI probe\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\">a previous FoxNews story<\/a> on the FBI investigation which was prompted by the series <a title=\"Death\" href=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/?p=3153\"><strong>&#8220;Death On The American Riviera.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Polling suggests that the election in the typically Democratic district will be surprisingly tight\u2014numbers from Problosky Research show Mitchum with a narrow lead over Capps, 41.5-40.8 percent. Capps, meanwhile, also\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\" target=\"_blank\">has been dealing with a controversy this year<\/a>, involving an aide who struck and killed a young woman in Santa Barbara with his car last December.&#8221;\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/2014\/06\/09\/fbi-doj-reportedly-probing-california-rep-ties-to-driver-in-dui-death\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4842\" title=\"FoxNews FBI probe headline\" src=\"http:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/FoxNews-FBI-probe-headline-300x228.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"228\" srcset=\"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/FoxNews-FBI-probe-headline-300x228.png 300w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/FoxNews-FBI-probe-headline-800x608.png 800w, https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/FoxNews-FBI-probe-headline.png 981w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The FBI-DOJ investigation was also reported on by <a title=\"AP\" href=\"http:\/\/www.utsandiego.com\/news\/2014\/Jun\/12\/feds-probe-aftermath-of-crash-involving-house-aide\/\"><strong>The Associated Pres<\/strong><\/a>s and <a title=\"LAT\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/local\/lanow\/la-me-la-probe-capps-aide-20140612-story.html\"><strong>The Los Angeles Times<\/strong><\/a> in June. But the <a title=\"mitchum for congress\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mitchumforcongress.com\"><strong>Mitchum For Congress website<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0failed to mention it, emphasizing the alleged deceptive ad.<\/p>\n<p>Sources close to the Mitchum campaign said that the Republican challenger&#8217;s advisors had suggested he avoid the FBI investigation so as not to appear to &#8220;go negative&#8221; \u00a0in his campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Considering the tactics of the Capps campaign which later pulled the ad, the decision by Mitchum&#8217;s staff to focus only on that issue and ignore the Morua-DUI scandal, may have squandered any chance that the 71-year-old actor had in unseating the eight-term 76-year-old representative who will now go on to a nine term in congress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Chris%20Mitchum%20loses%20race%20to%20Lois%20Capps.%20Campaign%20refused%20to%20raise%20Morua-DUI-manslaughter%20issue\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>News &amp; Analysis By Peter Lance\u00a0\u00a9\u00a0November 5th, 2014.\u00a0According the vote count from\u00a0The California Secretary of State\u00a0with 100% of precincts reporting, Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) defeated Republican challenger Chris Mitchum\u00a0by a margin of 51.6% to his 48.4% in the heavily fought race for the 24th congressional district. The San Luis Obispo Tribune called the race for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[499,555,554,563,584,549,526,609,1211,531,546,193,548,527,529,579,189,540,511,556,518,513,519,553,551,533,517,550,541,201,192,542,582,583,508,547,522,561,580,578,534,523,585,610,510,532,538,539,535,560,126,558,559,528,509,536,520,512,525,1221,516,524,552,515,521,530,537,557,514],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4840"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4846,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4840\/revisions\/4846"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peterlance.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}